Kappa Sigma At Purdue Is Suing School For Unfairly Sanctioning Chapter
9 years ago

Kappa Sig At Purdue Is Suing School For Unfairly Sanctioning Chapter

On February 20, 2015, an underage student at Purdue University was found intoxicated and the blame was immediately put on Kappa Sigma. The chapter told the university that they did not hold an event that night — they hadn’t even registered for one despite a perfect record of always registering their previous ones.

That wasn’t enough for the university, though, as they set in motion an investigation into the Kappa Sigma chapter regarding the incident. The school then found that they were in violation and put the chapter on probation until May of 2017. A heavy sanction for such a small infraction.

The fraternity is now going on the offensive by suing the university, claiming that they were not given any chance to defend themselves.

From the Indy Star:

The university didn’t allow the campus fraternity to fully defend itself against claims that an underage student was served alcohol at its chapter house last winter, according to a complaint Kappa Sigma and its house corporation filed last Friday in Tippecanoe Circuit Court.

Kappa Sigma requested the names of members who were allegedly involved and the name of the witnesses making or supporting the accusations, according to the complaint. The university allegedly denied those requests.

All of this led to an October hearing with IFC, where, once again, Kappa Sigma was dicked over when they were unable to examine witnesses. The sanction came down after the hearing and Kappa Sigma appealed. During the appeals process, they requested documents regarding the incident, and the university responded by giving them a heavily redacted report that did not include the names of the underage student or any witnesses.

What happened to innocent until proven guilty? Are all fraternities exempt from the basis of our justice system? The burden of proof is on the claimant. If you don’t allow the defendant to show evidence that they didn’t do what they are accused of doing, then you are limiting our basic rights as Americans.

Good on you, Purdue Kappa Sigma, for taking a stand.

[via Indy Star]

  2. Blues_Ghost

    We had to lawyer up last semester when the university brought us up on 7 counts of hazing. It was all petty bullshit like cleaning the house and having to do interviews. Thankfully we were able to reach a resolution with the university and only received minor probationary period. It baffles me that universities can just step in like this and lay down the long dick of the law without a proper hearing or trial.

    9 years ago at 11:05 am
  4. Commander_Crust

    They have the right to know the name, arrest reports are public records. Damn fuck Purdue. Chirp Chirp

    9 years ago at 11:45 am
    1. Bid Notice

      This says nothing about an arrest at any point, though these days sometimes it might be better, because at least when you get arrested the accusations have some merit.

      9 years ago at 12:44 pm
  5. Boiler5

    The sanction through May 2017 was so hefty because they’ve been on probo almost very semester for the past 3 semesters…

    9 years ago at 12:14 pm
  7. Frats_n_hats

    They held a pregame that day at their house because their tailgate buddies were having a formal and a lot of them were going. Schools never release students names without the students permission, this type of thing is covered under the FERPA act. They should have had a chance to defend themselves and try to do a coverup

    9 years ago at 12:37 pm
  8. Brotein Shake

    It’s incredibly frustrating how expensive and difficult it is to be innocent nowadays.

    9 years ago at 1:15 pm